Out of the Past: A Reed Ferguson Mystery Part 13

He punched a keypad, opened the door and went inside. A moment later, the dark windows of his unit turned yellow as light streamed through. Then a figure pa.s.sed in front of the window and the shades closed.

I didn't get it. Where was the Toyota?

I didn't have long to wait for my answer. About fifteen minutes later, it drove slowly down the street and parked in front of Delany's building. A tall man in a dark ski jacket and baseball cap got out and strolled to the door. A second later, Delany appeared and let him inside.

What was going on? Color me confused. Not five minutes pa.s.sed and both men came back out. Delany waved at the man in the baseball cap, then went to the Toyota and got in. Baseball Cap nodded, then started walking in the opposite direction.

I ducked as the Toyota pa.s.sed me and waited until it drove around the side of the building where the parking garage was. I threw the binoculars on the pa.s.senger seat, got out and followed Baseball Cap. He was unaware of me as he walked a couple of blocks to Belleview, then east to the light rail station. A train was coming as he approached the platform and I'd have to run if I wanted to catch it.

I hopped on a couple of doors down from him, then discreetly made my way through the aisle toward him, enduring some annoyed looks from other standing pa.s.sengers. Baseball Cap had a seat facing the other direction, across from a guy in a suit, and he had no clue I was stalking him. I stood with my back to him, and I could hear him talking. I glanced at his reflection in the window, a technique I'd used before, and studied him. Mid-twenties, a hawk nose, and curly blond hair underneath the cap, which had a Red Sox logo on it. He was speaking to the guy across from him.

"I can't believe you lost him," the suit chided him.

"I'm doing the best I can. Get off my back."

"What happened?" The suit ran his fingers over his goatee as he talked.

"He went to Stephanie's condo. He was in there for about fifteen minutes. Then he came out and I followed him, but he got onto I-25, dodged in and out of traffic and I lost him."

"Did he know he was being followed?"

"No way, I was too careful."

Right, I thought. These guys were clueless.

"What'd you do then?" the suit asked.

"I watched outside his building for a while but he never came back. Then I had to take the car back to Jack."

I was right on one thing: the guy had waited for me to return home. But I was wrong on another: it wasn't Jack who'd been following me. Gawd, as Stephanie would say. Who in the h.e.l.l were these guys? I grimaced. I was using italics again.

"So now what?" the suit asked.

"Jack needs his car tomorrow, so I'll borrow someone else's and tail Ferguson tomorrow."

"Where will he be?"

"Dude, he's got to go home sometime, right? Tomorrow morning I'll wait outside his condo and follow him when he leaves."

"All right, just be careful. If he figures out where you live, he'll know where I live."

"Man, give me some credit," Baseball Cap said, incensed. "He's not going to figure out we live together."

Uh, wrong, I thought.

The overhead speakers announced we'd come to the Southmoor station and the guys stood up. I headed in the other direction but watched as they got off the train. I hopped off one door down and tailed them, keeping people between us. They walked through a pedestrian tunnel lit in neon blue to a park-n-ride lot. There were enough people headed in the same direction that I had no trouble being inconspicuous. They crossed the lot and got into a silver Mercedes, the suit behind the wheel, and drove in my direction. I stepped between two cars and turned the other way until they pa.s.sed, and I memorized the license plate number. It shouldn't be this easy...

Snow started falling as I walked back to the light rail station. I rode back to the Belleview station and by the time I returned to my car, I was cold and it was covered with a fine layer of light flakes. I brushed off the windshield, got in and cranked the heat. Then I headed back downtown to Denver Health Medical Center.

Tyrone was standing outside Stephanie's door and he shook his head when he saw me. "Can't let you in, buddy."

I held up my hands, palms up. "I have no nefarious intent. I just want to see how she's doing."

"Nefarious?"

I smiled. "I like the word."

He glanced up and down the hall, as if verifying that no one would observe his breaking the rules, then jerked his head toward the room. "Make it quick."

I went into the room. Stephanie was propped up on pillows, her left arm still in a sling. Her face was still pale, although not as pale as when I'd last seen her.

"It's the great bodyguard," she said.

"Sarcasm, very funny." I stood by the bed. "How are you doing?"

"My shoulder's killing me."

"At least you're alive."

"No thanks to you."

"Actually, it is thanks to me," I said. "If I hadn't been there, the guy could've come back and made sure he killed you."

Her face colored white as the bed sheets. "Do you have to be so blunt?"

"Let's just say I'm getting tired of the runaround and insults from you and your father."

She started to sit up, then groaned. "Oh, that hurt." She shifted tentatively. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Keep playing it that way, but I'm starting to put things together."

"You are?"

I nodded. "I expect that by the time they're ready to release you, I'll have this guy. But it'd be easier if you'd tell me what you know."

She put her head back on the pillow. "I'm tired now, do you mind leaving?"

"Suit yourself," I said, then left.

"She's something else," Tyrone said quietly as I stepped out of the room.

I headed down the hall, then paused and turned around. "What are they hiding?"

He pursed his lips, then shrugged. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"See you around," I said as I walked away.

I thought about everything as I headed home. What was she hiding? And why? And what about Baseball Cap and his buddy? If they graduated from spy school, it was the Fisher-Price variety. Who would hire them to go after Stephanie?

CHAPTER TWENTY.

I parked the 4-Runner in the garage and plodded up the stairs to my place. Once inside, I shook off the snow, grabbed a beer, sank onto the couch and called Cal.

"I need you to look up another license plate number for me," I said when he answered.

He let out a heavy sigh. "Maybe it's time I showed you how to get this information yourself."

"I'm a private investigator, not a hacker," I said.

"I prefer 'Clandestine Information Specialist'."

I laughed, then got serious. "Do you have time to look it up?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks. You wouldn't believe what happened."

"With what's happened so far, I would."

"It wasn't the right guy," I said, then launched into a recap of my evening. "So now I need to figure out who these characters are."

"The Mercedes belongs to one Bennett Gilbright. He lives in Westminster."

"That was quick."

"It really is easy to get this information, once you know what you're doing."

"That's scary," I said.

It was Cal's turn to laugh. "And I've just pulled up a picture of the house on Google Maps. It's a big place. Looks like an expensive neighborhood."

"I suppose I need to go up there early and check it out, and maybe tail them. But they know my car," I said. "Maybe I can I borrow Willie's car."

"May I make a suggestion?"

"What?"

"Instead of following them around, why not bug the house and listen to what they're saying? It might get you what you want, without the ha.s.sle of traipsing all over town."

"Yeah," I said. "Except I don't know anything about bugs, other than what I found in my own condo on my first case. And I'd have to get it into his home."

"I know how to do it."

"You do?"

"Uh-huh. I was doing some research on bugging devices a while back, and I bought some equipment and I've even tested it."

"So you know where to install a bug and how to use the equipment to listen in on people?"

"Yes," he said proudly.

"Aren't you the guy who doesn't like helping me?"

"I don't mind helping from afar."

"You can't help from afar on this one. You've got to go with me."

"I can tell you what to do," he said, a whine creeping into his voice.

"You have to show me," I insisted.

Cal cursed. "I already helped you on this case."

"And you'll love doing it again."

"Fine. When do you want to do this?"

"Tomorrow. These guys are going to try following me again," I said. "Let me work on a plan to divert them, and then you and I can plant the bug while they're gone."

"Fine," he repeated and hung up.

What a guy, hoping to be an armchair detective. I finished my beer as I formulated a plan.

"You want us to do what?" Willie said to me. She was sitting on the couch in my living room, her legs tucked underneath her.

"I need you guys to help me so I can plant a bug in Bennett Gilbright's house. Tomorrow morning, I'm sure his buddy in the baseball cap is going to be parked outside waiting to follow me."

Once I figured out my plan, I'd called Cal again and arranged some things with him. Then I called Willie and Ace, and now they were both sitting on the couch, listening as I outlined my idea. "Ace, you'll spend the night here. In the morning, Willie is going to scout the street and find the guy in the baseball cap. When she figures out what car he's in, you'll make sure he sees you, pretending to be me, leave my condo."

"Why will this guy think I'm you?" Ace asked.

"Good question. You'll wear my clothes, a hat, and my sungla.s.ses. If you hurry down the stairs, he'll think you're me."

"Okay," Ace said.

"Get the 4-Runner from the garage and drive around to the front and pick up Willie. That way you're a team. This guy isn't going to do anything if he thinks I've got my girlfriend with me."

"But your girlfriend will be with me," Ace said slowly.

"Right." I suppressed a smile.